Member of roving robbery gang guilty in Legends phone store heist

A 34-year-old Illinois man pleaded guilty Monday to the $53,000 hold-up of a Kansas City, Kan., Verizon Wireless store last year.

Terry Curtis, of Rockford, is one of five Illinois men charged in the September 2016 robbery of the store at 10621 Village West Parkway.

Authorities said that the robbery was part of a nationwide string of dozens of similar robberies.

In his guilty plea, Curtis admitted that he drove the getaway vehicle in the robbery.

During the robbery, employees and a customer were forced into a break room where they were placed face down on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs.

One employee was ordered to open a safe, and the robbers fled with about $53,000 in cash and phones.

Attorneys will recommend a six-year prison sentence for Curtis as part of a plea agreement.

Charges against the other four defendants are pending in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Member of roving robbery gang guilty in Legends phone store heist."